Autonomous driving on the highway

Motorways for Italy is experiencing the autonomous driving on the motorway on its own network. In July, the first tests began along the A26 on a stretch closed to traffic, with a Maserati MC20 Cielo specially prepared by Politecnico di Milano, who traveled 20 km outdoors. At the end of October, the experimentation continued for another 30 km along the same highway, this time with a passage within the Valsesia gallery.

First autonomous driving tests on the motorway

The tests on autonomous driving on the A26 motorway are aimed at evaluating the precision of the location of the car along the route and its ability to correctly interpret the road signs.

Devices installed along the highway allow the car to manage autonomous driving safely, anticipating the presence of dangers such as construction sites, accidents or queues.

Inside the gallerieswhere the satellite signal is absent, special antennas have been installed to maintain autonomous driving even in the event of signal loss, such as when passing under a mountain.

The next testing phase, which will begin soon, will involve the section of the A26 with the Valsesia tunnel, this time with real trafficto verify the reliability of the antennas inside the tunnel.

Mercury program

The new phase of the experimentation, part of “Mercury Programme” of Aspi, is conducted by Movyonthe division dedicated to research and innovation, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and with the support of the Observatory for Smart Roads and Connected and Automatically Driven Vehicles of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Roberto TomasiCEO of Autostrade per l'Italia, comments that this experiment looks to the future and redefines the concept of driving on the road, with the aim of improve safety infrastructure and offer innovative services that meet user needs.

Read also:

→ Autonomous driving levels

→ Drones for highway checks

→ How to drive on the highway
→ Webcam on the highway
→ Calculate highway tolls in real time

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